If you looking to buy local pumpkins this year here are some suggestions from a recent OC Weekly story.

1) Westminster High School’s Future Farmers of America program, which sells the harvest of pumpkins and fruit every Wednesday afternoon at the farmer’s market at the Westminster Mall. One day every year, the farm is open to the public during it’s annual Fall Festival. This year, it’s Saturday, Oct. 30 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. They grow six varieties of jack o’ lantern pumpkins, including Fairytales and White Ghosts.

Westminster High School, 14325 Goldenwest St., Westminster. (714) 893-1381.
To get to the farm: enter from Goldenwest Street, turn onto Main Street into campus, and follow it past the football fields until you reach the farm.

2) Tanaka Farms in Irvine welcomes the public daily to pick pumpkins from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with no admission fee. A 6-to-8-pound pumpkin runs $3.25, and there’s a sliding scale from there, up to a 30-pound pumpkin. Tanaka Farms, 5380 3/4 University Dr., Irvine (949) 653-2100; www.tanakafarms.com.

3) South Coast Farms in San Juan Capistrano on the last three weekends in October for a pumpkin “choosing,” and craft activities for the youngsters. They do not grow jack o’ lantern pumpkins, so you can’t take the kids for a pick-from-the-field experience. They truck those in from elsewhere, and you choose from the pumpkins set up in their farm stand parking lot. Pumpkins cost 49 cents per pound. They do grow organic pie pumpkins though which you can use for your holiday baking.